Whimsyshire

'Smash it and Bash it'

"I swear, if he is getting us into more trouble with the locals I am going to set him on fire..." Muttered an angry Witch Doctor as she made her way through the forest. It always seemed to happen like this. They would enter a new area, he would charge off after something for some inconceivable reason, and she had to try and smooth things out. At least the residents of this land had been hospitable, if a little strange to her. Ayida had found the yellow one to be very cute.

Whilst trekking through the forest Ayida found herself dazing off. She realized to her dismay that she had wandered upon a very strange thing indeed. All around her were twelve wooden carvings of wolves, covering the clearing around her. As she examined one, she heard a rustling behind her and whirled around. All that was there was the wolf carvings. Ayida shook her head as she turned back to examine the one that was before her she noticed it was in a different position from what it was in before. Alarms went off in her head as she jumped back, narrowly escaping the jaws of the wooden beast.

"Hahaha, seems I may have underestimated this land. Perhaps it will be a great test of my spirit after all!" The Witch Doctor cackled as she summoned three of her own dogs to her side, along with a monstrous undead being known only as the 'Gargantuan'. The wolves immediately stopped their advance on their would-be prey, instead choosing to raise their hackles at the rotting dogs and giant that stood in their way.

Reaching into her mana pool, Ayida brought forth a skull holding a powerful fire spirit. She then lobbed the skull at the largest of the wolves, watching with glee as the spirit was let loose and howled its fury of its imprisonment, scorching everything around its release point. Then, Ayida whistled and her minions set to annihilation the remainder of the wolves who were too demoralized by the quick death of their alpha to raise much of a defense. The zombie dogs tore limbs off, spraying the ground with sap, as the gargantuan picked one of the unlucky wolves up in both hands, and tore it in two, lobbing the pieces at the wolves trying to escape and tripping them up.

Ayida felt the souls of the deceased soar around her, and she smiled. Then, as quickly as her smile came, it vanished. She had lost the foresight that was brought on by the potion Zecora had made for her. And worst of all, she had been turned around by the fighting, and did not recognize where she had come from. The Witch Doctor stood in the clearing, awestruck by how the forest seemed to not want to relinquish her.

"Spirits... please give me a sign, for I find myself lost again" prayed Ayida. Her answer came to her sooner than she expected.

"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" A war cry sounded out in the distance.

"Old one?! Oh no, hes already gone to his fail safe plan..." Grumbled the Witch Doctor as she set off in the direction of the shout.

As the guards charged the mountain of a man, one thing was for sure... His head was not in the game.

'Why do my adversaries have to be so... childish? I cant even get any of my rage built up like this.' Thought the Barbarian. Though he had no qualms with killing those who deserved it, he was a man of honor and abhorred killing the innocent. Roughing them up though, that was another story. He would not be pushed around for just being different. Though old and usually more reasonable than younger Barbarians, he had been made a mockery of his whole life by outsiders, and being the man of honor he was. He dealt with the criticism of his kind.

Finally finding an inkling of the primal fury he needed to fight he readied his old muscles for the oncoming wall of flesh he would smash his way through, and if it would not smash, he would bash it into submission.

The first couple of guards to reach him were Pegasi, and they decided to try a full speed head but. This worked about as well as a bird hitting a brick wall, the guards were left with fractured skulls, nearly broken necks, and were dazed out of commission. The Barbarian could only smile as he pulled back his right fist for the next pony, an earth one this time. Though he pulled the punch, the guard was sent off the ground, and if one didn't know what kind of pony he was, they would have guessed Pegasi by the way he flew.

"Oh my..." Was all Rarity could manage out as she stared at the sight unfolding before her.

"Yeah, he sure is a strong one, hooey he hits hard!" replied Applejack watching the guard sail off to be caught by a fellow guard Pegasus.

"No, it appears a couple of Diamond Dogs are making off with his pack... I noticed it before and they seem to have noticed as well, he has some high quality gems in there." Returned Rarity.

"How can you tell from this distance?" Asked Twilight.

"Please Twilight, gems are my specialty after all, and I can spot high quality from a mile away." Rarity said as she put a hoof in her mane and dramatically threw it into the breeze.

The fighting had come to a halt as the guards noticed the hulk of a man had stopped mid swing to look back to where his pack should be.

"Wha- But... Who?" The Barbarian asked aloud looking for where it could have gone. He looked up to where the girls sat watching, and eating popcorn that pinkie had gotten from somewhere. The party pony then pointed to the edge of the woods where he saw a band of dogs making their way off with his goods. He was immediately reminded of his brother in war Lyndon the Scoundrel. Countless times had he set his bags down to rest, or to have a fist fight, and time and time again Lyndon would try teaching him a lesson and steal his equipment. The mere thought that these dogs were going to take away what he worked so hard on acquiring caused him to grit his teeth.

The guards backed up as they felt the air pressure around the metal clad creature increase, as though his anger and fury wanted to take on physical form. The buckles of the Barbarians armor strained as his body seemed to swell with power. As his vision slowly took on a shade of red, he sprinted after the escaping mutts.

"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" He boomed out his fury as he quickly closed the gap on the dogs as they made their way along the edge of the forest into an open field filled mounds of dirt that marked entrances into the dog's tunnels.

"Ahh! its gaining on us!" yelped the smaller of the dogs carrying the large sack full of gems, potions, gold, and spare equipment.

"Run faster then!" cried the other holding onto the heavy weapons.

The dogs leaped for one of the holes, knowing that when they made it under the ground their flanks would surely be safe. However, the Barbarian had other plans for their behinds. One that included one dog's head being forcibly applied up the other's ass. He channeled his fury to manifest physical form as he threw a harpoon straight at the dogs. It collided with the first, pierced, and traveled straight to the second, catching him in the back too, before stopping a few feet out of its chest. He then yanked back the chain connected to the harpoon, and reeled them back in as they whimpered from their wounds the entire way.

"This... Belongs... TO ME!" shouted the Barbarian as the grabbed one of his axes from the second dog's mitts and cleaved its head off with one perfect arc of his blade. The chain had disappeared and the first of the dogs crawled with his front paws after one of the mounds that meant safety. Only for him to have his leg grabbed.

"Ah ah ah, I'm not finished with you..." scolded the Barbarian, blood lust gleaming in his eyes. He held the head of the second mutt as he raised the first by its leg, blood spilling to the ground from the wound that pierced its spine and sternum. It didn't have long to live now, but he would make sure it suffered. He raised the decapitated head high, aiming for the rear of the dog.

A howl of terror, and pain was heard by the girls still sitting at their picnic area. They all cringed at the sound, knowing that the bandit had been caught by the creature.

"Ah don't get it. he didn't seem all that bad when he fought the guards, he seemed more like he was playing with them. But when he saw them varmints runnin' off with his stuff, he really seemed like a monster..." Said Applejack, wondering how one could seem like a playful giant one moment and then turn into a nightmare the next.

"Maybe he had something important in there, or something..." Quietly offered Fluttershy.

"Why of course he had important things in there, didn't you see the gems he had? Oh, I must get him to trade me some!"

"I don't know Rare, he didn't look like the type to hold things like that in such high regard." Twilight said, shooting down Rarity's theory.

Meanwhile the unit of guards were picking each other off the ground and climbing out of trees. A unicorn sent a message to their captain Black Ice about their defeat at the unarmed creature.

Then, a dark figure burst out of the treeline, took in the scene before her and shook her head. Ayida looked over to the girls sitting atop the hill and noticed Fluttershy. She motioned for her minions to stay in the shadows as to not frighten the young ponies. The guards eyed her warily, noting similarities in this one and the one that was here before.

As Ayida approached Fluttershy the yellow mare's friends rushed to stand between the creature and the timid Pegasus. Everyone but Twilight stood in Ayida's way, for Twilight was too stunned by what she saw. Magical energy blossomed around this figure, So much power that she was sure any Unicorn who had the special talent for Magic would be mortified by what they could see.

"Fluttershy, could you please ask your friends to move aside so I can ask you where my friend went?" Ayida said, then looked over her shoulder to the force of guards who were groaning in pain. She then looked back and gave the girls a flat look "I know he was just here"

"Its... Okay girls, this is Zecora's friend i was telling you about..." Fluttershy managed to squeak out.

The other girls looked at the stranger with untrusting eyes. They finally parted and let the Witch Doctor through.

"Now Fluttershy, can you please tell me where Bannuk went?" Ayida softly asked, not wanting to further frighten the timid mare.

"Bannuk?" Asked Fluttershy hiding behind her mane which slid over her eyes.

"Yes, that is his name. Can you please tell me where he went?" The Witch Doctor repeated herself.

"There he is!" a hyperactive pinkie jumped in, pointing to a figure standing on a hill, making its way to them.

As Bannuk approached the girls and his travelling companion. He was tired now, and it was evident in the slouch he had to his stride. He had been jumped by a small army of dogs after the howl of the one he tortured sounded off. He must have cleaved down at least fifty of the mongrels before they fled again and offered him a giant bag of gems and gold to leave them alone. And who was he to refuse such gifts of good will? Unfortunately, the dog's forgot to give him a wagon, so he had dragged the gigantic bags of loot all the way back to where he fought the guards.

Everyone but Ayida stared wide eyed at the Barbarian as he pulled two bags of treasure, that managed to dwarf him in size. Then a certain shy Pegasus noticed something else about him, he was dripping with blood.

"Oh no! you poor thing, we must get you to a doctor immediately!" spouted out the alarmed mare, losing all traces of her shy nature at the sight of an injured creature. She flew up to one of his hands and started to pull on it.

"Hmm? Oh, don't worry about me little one. This blood is not mine." The Barbarian said as he took off his helmet, letting himself air out as sweat dripped from his white beard.

"Wha- wh... then... who?" Stuttered out the Pegasus

"Pack of the dogs tried to help the two thieves, so I dealt with them." Smiled the Barbarian, "That's where I got this loot!"

Fluttershy could only imagine how many Diamond Dogs would have to be cut down to drench the armor the Barbarian wore so fully. Her head spun as she got sick from the implications.

Fluttershy fainted.